The Wanderer
by yvj
Summary: “Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me. The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality' How far will a person go to get back the one they love? The Wanderer knows the price but is he willingly to pay in full.


A/N This idea came to me during a sleepless night and I had to write it down. I really like it, its kind of different from most of my other stuff. I hope you enjoy this story. Read and Review

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Chamber of Thanatos Greece: 

He couldn't see beyond the range of his flashlight, so he took out a flare from his backpack and fired it into the air. For what felt like decades, he watched it fly upwards. Eventually it hit the ceiling and illuminated the area.

He let go of his breath "finally, I'm finally here!"

The most strenuous twenty-four hours of his life would soon be coming too an end. Only a few hours ago, everything had been so bleak. His very future seemed destined to be one of extreme loneliness and despair. But he had found a way to fix everything, to make it all better.

He grinned, the grin of a desperate man on the verge of salvation. "Soon everything will fine. Everything will be like it used to be."

He looked around the chamber; it was about fifty meters wide with a doomed roof. If he had time to browse, he would have seen that the chamber walls were covered with images of the underworld and its rulers.

But he didn't have time to browse; the flare might die out soon. He made his into the room dragging a large dark bag behind him.

A wave of unrelenting shame immediately swept through his body. She shouldn't be treated this way, being dragged through the dirt like trash. It was wrong but he had no choice, she'd become too heavy now, much too heavy.

At the far end of the wide chamber there was a large altar. Besides the altar stood a massive bronze statue, the legendary statue of Thanatos, the god of death.

He placed her carefully on the altar, and he opened the bag, slightly revealing her face. For what may have been the tenth time in as much hours he cried, he cried over her until his tears collected on her lifeless face.

_I'm so sorry this…..it's all my fault, But I won't give up on you. I'll never give up on you. We'll be together again, soon_

A few seconds later he backed away from the altar, and removed a plastic container from his backpack. The container held the ancient text that was needed for the ceremony. He took extra care not to damage it when he laid it down next to her body. He was going to return it to the museum sooner or later. They probably weren't happy about him "borrowing" it.

Next item on the list the dagger of Hades; he pulled it from his right pocket. Now this particular object was hard to find, even harder to steal.

He stopped and reflected; this was obviously madness.

It didn't take long for him to realize he didn't care.

He recited the translation of the first verse of the ancient text out loud, and placed his hand over her body. Simultaneously, he held the dagger over his right hand. He looked up at the statue of Thanatos, it's arrogant, overbearing eyes looked down on him.

He spoke the final verse, just as the flare went out. In the darkness he braced himself, and brought the dagger down hard. The pain caused him to bite down on his own tongue; he felt the warmth of his blood as it flowed down his palm.

A cold breeze blew into the room, catching him by surprise. The force of the chilly wind increased until it blew him away from the altar, onto the ground.

He screamed in horror because even in the darkness, he could feel some else there. He was no longer alone.

He would learn soon enough that the ceremony was a complete success.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was just about nine a.m when Cynthia Rose entered Alberta General Hospital. Cynthia was here to see a person she had known for most of her life, her childhood friend Jake West. Or J duyba, a name she had coined for him years ago.

Life was funny… it just a week ago when she had made plans to see Jake this weekend, and now he was in a coma, thanks to a head long collision into an oak tree.

The doctor had told her the possibility of his survival was slim at best, the fact was he could pass away at any moment. And of course, there was nothing they could do for Jake. Miracles like that only happened in movies. There would be no miracles for Jake West.

It didn't make any sense, it just seemed so random, Cynthia thought as she made her way past the receptionist area.

_Someone famous once said that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. _

Those were her very thoughts as she entered the elevator.

She was weeping by the time the door closed.

XXXXXXX

Cynthia didn't want his parents to be there today. Yes it was selfish, but she just wanted some time with James alone. A moment alone before he passed, was that so much to ask?

She didn't think so.

She entered the room, and stopped in her tracks. Jake's parent's weren't in the room but some else was. He stood over Jake's body and waved his hand over Jake's face. At first glance he looked to be under a trance.

"Excuse me."

She caught his attention, which was what she had wanted. He was obviously doing something weird to Jake.

The man smiled, he looked to be around her age, twenty two, twenty three tops. He continued to smile at her, his friendly demeanor severely contradicted his fashion sense. He wore a long black overcoat, with matching black pants and shoes. He had dark clothing on from head to toe.

"Uh, what is your name?" he asked puzzled.

She didn't have to give him her name, but she felt compelled to anyway "Cynthia, Cynthia Rose. Who are you?"

He scratched his blond hair, seemingly confused. "Cynthia Rose, oh… ok." He smiled. "My names is Ron, I'm a friend of good ole Jake here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we go way back," he replied.

It happened in a flash. He tripped over his own feet and accidentally disconnected Jake's IV cord from the IV pole.

"You idiot!" Cynthia screamed, as she pushed him out of the way and reconnected the IV cord. "What's wrong with you?" she shouted at him.

"I'm really, really sorry!" He continued to apologize for another minute, before Cynthia asked him to stop.

She turned her attention to Jake, his appearance hadn't changed. He looked just as he had the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that.

"You know, I've known Jake all my life and I've never heard him mention a friend named Ron"

"Oh, Jake and I are work buddies; we met at the CYNET convention in Vegas. I guess that was probably three years ago, we get together for lunch every once in awhile"

"Oh yeah," she eyed him suspiciously, "what were you doing there a moment ago?"

Her question seemed to catch him by surprise "oh that, that was a prayer, a Jewish prayer, I'm Jewish you know. Of course you'd probably already figure that out because I wouldn't be saying a Jewish prayer if I wasn't Jewish. But then again you don't really have to be Jewish to know a Jewis…"

"Ok I get it," she said tersely, "I understand."

Ron looked at Jake and then back at Cynthia. "You probably want some alone time, I'll be back later." He pulled out a pair of dark sunglasses and put them on. "It was nice meeting you."

He walked out the door, leaving her alone in the room with Jake.

"How are you doing J?" she asked. She half expected him to answer with the usual 'I'm doing better than I did yesterday C', that's how he replied every time she asked how he was doing.

She stared at his face. It used to be filled with life and vigor, but now it was drained of all energy. She could tell he was on death's door, she didn't know how but she could tell. Pretty soon, she would lose her best friend in the world.

Cynthia closed her eyes; they could have been more then best friends. No, that wasn't really true; the truth was that she wished that they had been more than best friends. The thought of them as more than friends had haunted her dreams for many years. But Cynthia had resigned herself to being his friend a long time ago; just being near him was enough.

For the second time today she cried.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Around an hour later, Cynthia felt the sudden hunger for a tuna sub. Her stomach growled with hunger, which was predictable seeing how she hadn't eaten since last night. Besides, tuna was one of things that she and Jake loved. They had once spent a whole day in the city sampling tuna sandwiches from different restaurants.

_Stupid but fun. _

It was not just fun, it was one of the best days in her life.

_Tuna and Jake, a mighty fine combination._

The second she stepped out of the hospital, a strong gust blows her cap right off her head. The cap rolled across the street and landed in the middle of the road.

_No that's my favorite cap!_

Favorite was an understatement. Her old cap had been stolen and Jake had gone out of his way to buy her a new one. Two days later, their favorite team clinched the deciding game of the World Series. Needless to say she treasured that cap.

She sprinted after it, dodging and weaving through incoming traffic. When she was close enough to smell the dirt on the cap a pair of rough hands pulled her backwards just as a taxi cab jetted past her, flatting her cap in the process.

The instant shock took all of the air out of her body, a few more feet and she would have been road pizza.

"Oh god…" was all she could manage to choke out.

She turned towards her savior… only to find that it was him. She remembered his name instantly.

"Ron?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Now that was close wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"You look hungry, how about lunch?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hal's Diner:

Cynthia watched curiously as Ron, who was sitting in the seat across from her, tossed a big spoonful of eggs into his mouth. He closed his eyes savoring the taste as he chewed.

She didn't really know why she accepted his offer of lunch. Even though she was hungry, she didn't really know the guy. Then again, he did just save her life, and he was supposedly one of Jake's work buddies.

"Now this is delicious, I haven't had a real meal in a very long time."

"You call this a real meal? Those eggs are probably loaded with artificial stuff."

Ron put his hand up defensively. "Ahh, but guess what it still tastes good. As long as it's tasty, it's all good."

"Really, so if they found a way to make rat poison taste good, you'd eat it?"

"I'm not a rat am I, so what's the problem?"

She chuckled softly.

"Nah, seriously, I wouldn't eat it. I don't think rat poison is kosher."

A flower pot on the windowsill of the diner caught Ron's attention. "You see those flowers there, they're called forget-me-nots. They symbolize true love and remembrance. 'Forget me not' are supposed to have been the last words of young man who fell into a river and drowned while picking these flowers for his lover."

"Thank you for that vital piece of information."

"Well, the more you know…" he paused, "and I'm no stranger to sarcasm."

She chuckled again. "You remind me a little of Jake."

Ron munched on a handful of buttered toast. "Yeah, there are some similarities between us; which is probably the reason he and I got along so well."

Ron leaned back in his seat. "I remember this one time, when we were at the convention in Vegas. Philip Thomas, who we happened to hate at the time, is announcing his new thingamajig, I can't really remember what it was exactly… it was useless anyway. The point is; Philip announces that he's been dreaming of this day his whole life. That's when Jake turns to me and says 'you've been dreaming of this your whole life? Why didn't you dream about curing cancer or something important?"

They laughed together. "That Jake, he was always good for a laugh."

"Yeah," Cynthia replied, "whenever I felt depressed or sad, he would always cheer me up with a few corny jokes. Even when they weren't funny, I still laughed. There was just something about him you know."

"He was… is a class act." He took a sip of coffee. "So you and Jake go way back?"

"Yep, all the way back to the second grade."

"Wow."

She smiled to herself. "I just remembered this one time in third grade; I was hiding in the closet of my classroom. Because the other kids, they just wouldn't stop teasing me."

"Kids can be such jerks," Ron remarked.

"Seriously," she agreed, "so I'm hiding there and Jake comes into the closest with me, holds me in his arms and starts telling me potty jokes. And then, at the end of the day, he beats up the boys who were making fun of me. He got suspended for a week."

"And who says chivalry is dead."

Cynthia laughed to herself. "That is so funny, I had forgotten all about that."

"So you two were very close."

"Oh, the closest! We did everything together, even when… even when he got some popularity in high school. He was the star quarterback of our school, you know how it is."

"Yeah, believe me, I know all about the high school hierarchy."

"Even though he was pretty much the king of the school, we still hung out together. The other girls were always asking why he kept me around. Sometimes I would ask myself the same thing."

A moment of silence.

"So why didn't you too ever date?"

"Excuse me?" she said slightly taken aback.

"If you don't mind me saying, you're a more than attractive girl, he's a pretty cool dude. Why didn't you guys ever hook up?"

"Um, because we were good friends, duh" she said indignantly. "Hooking up might have ruined everything we had."

Ron replied with a simple "hmmm."

"A guy and girl can just be friends you know. There is something called friendship."

"You're absolutely right, people can be just friends." He glanced at his watch.

_Besides, I don't think he ever though about me in that way._

Another memory popped into her head. "We never dated, but there was this one time at the senior prom, my date got a little to "grabby" so Jake kicks the guy out of the room, and he offered me the last dance. Boy, his date was really pissed about that one."

"Excuse me," Ron said abruptly as he got up from his seat. He walked over to the juke box in the corner of the diner placed a few coins in the jukebox and made his selection.

_Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done. Dum, dum, dum, it's the sound of my gun_

He got back to the table to find Cynthia swaying to the song and singing along.

"Oh, I see you approve of my selection."

"I love this song," she said. "This one time when were in high school, Jake invited me too go swimming with him at this lake and I almost drowned. He felt so bad about it, that he spent a months allowance on front row seats at an Aerosmith concert for just the two of us."

"That sounds…"

"Hold on, this is a good part… run away, run away from the pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"

Ron watched her in amusement as she moved along with the music. "After the concert, we went to our secret 'hideout' in the woods and he official apologized to me for something he had no control over…….. What did her daddy do, it's Janie's last I.O.U."

"I bet that's a night you'll never forget."

She shook her head. "Never! ……Run away, run away from the pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, run away, run away, run, run away"

When the song ended, she was breathing hard. But now she felt relaxed and loose.

Ron quickly glanced at his watch and took another sip of coffee. "Hmmm… still warm….. so Cynthia why didn't you ever tell him that you were in love with him?"

"What?" she sputtered.

"When Jake announced that he was getting engaged last year, how did that make you feel?" he asked nonchalantly.

"What are you talking about?"

Cynthia knew exactly what he was talking about. It was one of the worst days in her life.

"His engagement, how did that make you feel?"

She stared out the window into the street. "I was one of the first people he told. He introduced me too her and…" she paused. She didn't know why she was telling him this but she had to tell someone eventually. "…And that's when I knew for sure that I was in love with him."

"But I held back, so it wouldn't spoil what should be the happiest day in his life. I tried to have fun with them but it was killing me inside watching him being so happy. I went home that night and cried my eyes out. I felt hurt that I didn't tell him what I had in my heart."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Didn't you hear me, he was getting engaged and what if he didn't feel the same way, I would have been crushed, and our friendship would have never been the same!"

"What if he did feel the same?"

"What are you, some kind of love doctor, or is this a therapy session that I wasn't aware of?"

Ron took a bite out of a chocolate chip muffin. "I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on love but I can say for sure that I've done more than most people would, in the name of love."

"Like what?"

He took another bite. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you………. Like I said, I'm not an expert, but I do know love when I see it. Love _is_ when he ignores you and you still love him, it is when he loves another girl but you still smile and say I'm happy for you, when all you really want to do is cry."

She grabbed her purse and prepared to leave. "Ok this has gone on far enough."

"Did you know Jake broke off his engagement?"

She sat back down. "What?"

"He broke off his engagement a week ago. Apparently, he realized he was making a mistake. He was in love with someone else."

"What are you talking about? Who?"

"You were supposed to meet Jake at your secret hideout this weekend right?"

She was getting scared. "How did you know that?"

Ron reached into his overcoat and pulled out a small piece of paper. "This is a page excerpt from Jake's journal. He wrote this a few hours before the accident."

"Where did you get that?"

"I've got my ways" he handed her the page. "I want you to read this."

She accepted the page with shaking hands. She stared at it; this was indeed Jake's handwriting.

_I don't know if I'm making a mistake but I really don't care. There's no way I can get married to someone else with out knowing for sure. I need to know if she loves me as much as I love her. Next week I'm going to tell my best friend in the world that I love her……._

Cynthia dropped the page on the table. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she began to shake uncontrollably.

"Oh my god, oh my god."

Ron shook his head. "It's the hardest thing to say but the easiest to hear." He glanced at his watch. "Go tell him how you feel, before it's too late"

"No…" she cried, she was weeping openly, "it is too late he's in a coma, he's going to die!"

"A famous man once said that death ends a life, not a relationship."

"Who… who, are you?"

Ron sighed. "That's not really important right now. What's really important is that you tell him what he needs to hear."

She wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. She got up from the table, pushed past a waitress and ran out the front door.

XXXXXXXXX

Back at the hospital Cynthia cried over Jake's body. "I'm sorry I didn't have the guts to fight for our relationship. I wish I hadn't been so stupid, so scared. I should have told you sooner that I love you. I love you so very much."

She placed her head on his shoulder and continued to cry. "I'll always love you Jake."

That's when she felt a slight movement in his body. She bolted upright only to see his arm moving. She backed away from the bed but his arm reached out and grabbed her.

"Cynthia," he said weakly.

"Jake it can't be..."

He looked up at her. "I love you too C," he said, with tears in his eyes.

She rushed over to embrace him, and they cried, kissed and cried again. And when it was over, they talked about the past and their future.

XXXXXXX

The waitress turned to Ron. "Let me ask you something sweetie. What's with all the dark clothing?"

Ron checked his watch. "It's actually for my job."

"And what job, if you don't mind me asking, might that be?"

"I'm a writer; and right now I'm actually working on a story about wayward souls."

"Wayward souls?"

"Wayward souls are people who've escaped death. Their time was up but somehow, they managed to squeeze out an illegal extension on their lives. Now, death hates wayward souls because he's got to track these people down while keeping up with his original plans."

"So the story is about death tracking down these souls?"

"Yep, what do you think?"

"It's a little far fetched."

Ron shrugged. "Maybe it is."

"Hey, here comes your rude friend. I should give her a piece of my mind."

Ron stared through the window to see Cynthia beginning to cross the street. She was most likely coming back for the purse she had left behind. Her face was filled with unbridled joy, and that made him feel good, but only for a few seconds.

He pulled out a stopwatch from his overcoat, he looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry," he said, before pushing the stop button on the watch.

Time slowed down for everyone but him, he watched as the joy in her face slowly turned to one of pure horror, as the station wagon smacked into her.

The waitress screamed; those who had witnessed the incident from inside the restaurant screamed. Parents on the streets covered their children's eyes.

Ron dropped his money on the table and slowly made his way towards the exit.

On the street people crowded around, just for a glimpse of the tragic scene.

He walked past them.

A man scrambled out of the station wagon, pleading with the people in the crowd, telling them that it wasn't his fault. He didn't see her, she popped out of nowhere.

_Of course he didn't see her, he was on the phone._

Ron walked past him.

No one could see him now; he was just an icy feeling on the back of someone's neck on this cool September evening.

He walked past the body and there she was a few feet away, staring down at what was once her life.

She saw him approach and looked up. "You're not really Jake's work buddy are you?"

_She understood. They always understand in the end. _

"No I'm not, I'm sorry. That night, when you almost drowned, you were supposed to die."

She looked down at her body again and then back at Ron. "I guess I'm pretty lucky I made it this far." She paused. "Can I ask why?"

"I figured you'd be happier knowing, and so would he. Was I wrong?"

She reflected on it. "No, I'm glad I know and I'm happy he knows. Thank you."

Ron blushed. "It was no big. I'm not an expert, but I do know love when I see it."

Cynthia suddenly became enveloped in a white light. "What's going on?"

"You're crossing over, congrats C you're one of the good ones."

"I'm kind of scared."

"Don't worry; I hear the potato salad there is to die for."

Moments later she disappeared.

**It's about time **

_Thanatos _

Ron turned to the figure in the black robe, two wings at his back, a sword on his girdle.

"You should have taken her this morning. What was the point of all that, she was going to die anyway."

"It's a little sappy but the one thing I've learned from my experiences it's that even though it can't stop death from happening, love is stronger than death. Death can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories."

**Nothing is stronger then death.**

Ron shrugged. "I wouldn't expect a being that is incapable of love to understand."

**For a second there, I thought you had forgotten our arrangement.**

Ron put on his dark sunglasses. "A hundred wayward souls for the price of one, I remember it clearly. But if I'm going to do this job, I'm going to do it my way." He turned away from Thanatos and began walking away.

**There are normal procedures for this, you must follow them. **

"Never be normal, that's my motto!" Ron shouted before disappearing into a crowd of people.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Middleton general hospital ICU

Two orderlies; entered the room for their hourly check on the patient in the iron lung.

Everything seemed to be in order, when one of the orderlies recognized the patient in the tube.

"Now I remember who she is, Kim Possible, the chick that's always saving the world and stuff. Man that was bugging me for weeks, why is she in here again?"

His partner looked at him. "She got hurt on some mission in Greece. She was really messed up; hell she's barely alive now."

"What happened to her partner, that blond guy? It's on the tip of my tongue."

"Ron Stoppable, when her body got transported here from Greece, he was with her. But after that, he just disappeared. No one's seen him since then. This is old news man, where have you been?"

"It's a damn shame; she's still a good looking girl. Life's funny that way; one minute you're on top of the world, the next day you're in an iron lung."

"Hey Sam, did she get any visitors here today" said the partner.

"Not that I know of."

"Then who left these here?"

Sam glanced at Kim's night table, where he spotted a pot of flowers. "You mean the forget-me-nots?"

"What?"

"The flowers, they're called forget-me-nots. They're delivered here every morning. It's really weird; the cards are always marked anonymous."

Sam's partner shrugged. "Alright, let's get out of here."

Sam agreed and they walked out together. If they had stayed a minute later, they might have seen the single tear that ran down Kim's cheek."

XXXXXXXX

Ron walked along the dirt road; the hot desert sun beat down on his already tanned skin. The dark clothes he was wearing wasn't helping the situation either. He stopped to check his watch just as a Jaguar convertible pulled up beside him.

"Hey buddy, you need a ride?"

Ron smiled politely. "Yeah, thanks."

"Well hop on in."

Ron did just that. Once inside, he extended out his hand. "What's your name?"

"Bob, Bob Granger."

"Bob Granger," he smiled, "my name's Ron."

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A/N Even if this story doesn't get alot of reviews. I'm still kind of proud of it. As of right now this is a one-shot but that might change someday in the future :) Oh and if you're wondering what Ron was doing to Jake, he was actually combing through his memories. And I got some really good quotes from thinkexist. com they really helped me with the story. 


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